China, Cuba drilling for oil off Florida

Three steps that must be taken to maintain the United States’s economic position in the world were cited by Vice President Dick Cheney at the United States Chamber of Commerce. Cheney thanked the Chamber for understanding economic issues and motivated it to assist policy makers in decision making.

Cheney defended tax cuts made by President Bush, saying that a sudden tax increase is “not the prescription” the United States needs to secure its economic status. Cheney said that if Bush’s tax cuts are allowed to expire, taxes will increase by $280 billion a year. The thousand dollar per child tax break given to families would be halved, causing an average of $1,800 increased taxes for 116 million Americans. Cheney said that this “government greed” would have the most harmful effect on Americans in the lowest tax brackets.

Cheney also promoted free trade initiatives and argued against the protectionism promoted in some of the presidential campaigns. He said that a free trade agreement with Colombia would benefit the United States by allowing American products to enter Colombia without tariffs. According to Cheney, 90 percent of Colombian goods already enter the United States duty free. Cheney said that protectionism brings “false comforts” and that the demise of a trade agreement with Colombia would not only hurt the American economy, but would also cause the United States’s image in Latin America to suffer.

In light of increased gas prices, Cheney advocated that the United States increase domestic oil production, saying that an increase in supply is the only way to lower prices. Cheney supported initiatives that develop new energy technologies but reiterated that the United States’s dependence on oil cannot be erased overnight. Cheney not only pushed for oil production in ANWAR, but also supported oil production off of the East and West Coasts. Cheney said that China and Cuba are producing oil off the coast of Florida, noting that “even the Communists” understand increased oil production is economically vital.